Tony agogo

You are absolutely correct about Tony Hayward. Our political right is going on along the lines that he was absolutely accurate in his statements about the BP oil spill and its aftermath. I cannot endure intelligent people asking a CEO, or head of state for that matter, details about events under their managerial scope and expecting detailed and accurate answers. Tony was not on the rig when all hell broke loose and Obama is incapable of plugging the hole, yet we badger and condemn both of these men over those very issues.

Tony does have a major enemy; himself. All of his brilliance, knowledge, success and accomplishments have failed to instruct him on when to talk and what to say. Yes, indeed, the spill was but a tiny drop in a great ocean. But, his reminding everyone of this fact was very poorly timed.

It was not well advised of Tony to remind the Cajuns of the smallness of the problem while their fishing fleets were at harbor floating in an oil slick.

A consensus is developing among level headed commentators here that he is not such a bad guy after all. The situation in which he found himself was volatile and emotional and was being made more so by the media, Washington and political figures in the Gulf states, particularly the Governor of Louisiana, Bobby Jindal. Palpable tension needed to be mitigated but no voice of reason could be heard above the din.

Tony Hayward's attempt to put the situation in perspective suffered dreadfully from the engineer syndrome, i.e. a serious inability to communicate with ordinary people. What Tony said was indeed true, but totally inappropriate. His engineering response in an emotionally charged environment irritated almost everyone by its lack of focus on those killed and injured and those directly and indirectly affected by the spill. His placing the spill in the perspective of a drop in the ocean and his appeal for getting his life back revealed a cold and selfish demeanor at a time when humility and empathy were required.

Nor did our public take well to Tony's sailing holiday on his yacht. Americans are very much anti-oil company and have nothing but contempt for owners and executives flaunting their wealth and power. What followed was even more annoying and confusing. He was said to have been fired. No, not fired, transferred to Siberia. Yes, fired, but first transferred to Siberia for two years with a multi-million payment for something or another; severance, loss of top job, ego mollification, who knows? None of the above acted to assuage public opinion here against Tony in particular and BP in general.



And, of course, the classic honest, heartfelt and entirely understandable observation about wanting 'my life back' was not what we would expect from a highly educated PhD from the UK. Reverting to the old Chinese adage that one does not speak of rope in the house where a man has hung himself, Tony could have been more tidy and diplomatic in concluding his remarks about the spill.